Silicon carbide ceramics: photovoltaic industry applications
Silicon carbide ceramics have good mechanical strength, thermal stability, high temperature resistance, oxidation resistance, thermal shock resistance and chemical corrosion resistance, and are widely used in hot fields such as metallurgy, machinery, new energy, building materials and chemicals. Its performance is also sufficient for the diffusion of TOPcon cells in photovoltaic manufacturing, LPCVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition), PECVD (plasma chemical vapor deposition) and other thermal process links.
Compared with traditional quartz materials, boat supports, boats, and pipe fittings made of silicon carbide ceramic materials have higher strength, better thermal stability, no deformation at high temperatures, and a lifespan of more than 5 times that of quartz materials. They can significantly reduce the cost of use and the energy loss caused by maintenance and downtime. They have obvious cost advantages and a wide range of raw materials.
Among them, reaction bonded silicon carbide (RBSC) has low sintering temperature, low production cost, and high material densification. In particular, there is almost no volume shrinkage during the reaction sintering process. It is particularly suitable for the preparation of large-sized and complex-shaped structural parts. Therefore, it is most suitable for the production of large-sized and complex products such as boat supports, boats, cantilever paddles, furnace tubes, etc.
Silicon carbide boats also have great development prospects in the future. Regardless of the LPCVD process or the boron diffusion process, the life of the quartz boat is relatively low, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the quartz material is inconsistent with that of the silicon carbide material. Therefore, it is easy to have deviations in the process of matching with the silicon carbide boat holder at high temperature, which can lead to the boat shaking or even breaking. The silicon carbide boat adopts an integrated molding and overall processing process route. Its shape and position tolerance requirements are high, and it cooperates better with the silicon carbide boat holder. In addition, silicon carbide has high strength, and the boat breakage caused by human collision is much less than that of quartz boats.
The furnace tube is the main heat transfer component of the furnace, which plays a role in sealing and uniform heat transfer. Compared with quartz furnace tubes, silicon carbide furnace tubes have good thermal conductivity, uniform heating, and good thermal stability. The service life is more than 5 times that of quartz tubes. However, the manufacturing difficulty of silicon carbide furnace tubes is very high, and the yield rate is also very low. It is still in the research and development stage and has not yet been mass-produced.
In a comprehensive comparison, whether in terms of product performance or cost of use, silicon carbide ceramic materials have more advantages than quartz materials in certain aspects of the solar cell field. The application of silicon carbide ceramic materials in the photovoltaic industry has greatly helped photovoltaic companies reduce the investment cost of auxiliary materials and improve product quality and competitiveness. In the future, with the large-scale application of large-size silicon carbide furnace tubes, high-purity silicon carbide boats, and boat supports, and the continuous reduction in costs, the application of silicon carbide ceramic materials in the field of photovoltaic cells will become a key factor in improving the efficiency of light energy conversion and reducing industry costs in the photovoltaic power generation field, and will have an important impact on the development of photovoltaic new energy.